Missouri’s TerraVox Vineyards Ground Zero for Resurrecting Native Grape Varieties
October 3rd – (Kansas City, Missouri)—TerraVox Vineyards is in the midst of celebrating its tenth harvest of the most unique vineyard anywhere in America. The Cloeta, Hidalgo, Albania, Stark’s Star, Delicatessen, and numerous other grapes TerraVox is currently picking are all indigenous to the United States and are the foundation of the winery’s unique appeal. TerraVox founder Jerry Eisterhold believes the wines made from the 2022 vintage will help achieve his goal of convincing consumers and the wine trade alike that American wine grapes provide all the right answers to critical questions.
Founded in 2012, TerraVox Vineyards is a 14-acre estate located just outside Kansas City, Missouri. Here Eisterhold, a museum designer by day, oversees the cultivation of upwards of 60 different grape varieties indigenous to American soil. Since 2012, the winery has been commercially producing wines from varieties such as Muench, Lomanto, Carman, Volney, Lenoir, Herbemont, Wetumka, Ellen Scott, and dozens of other American grapes while cultivating a growing and loyal following of local wine lovers as well as some of the wine industry’s geekiest minds.
INDIGENOUS GRAPE PROJECT RECEIVING ATTENTION WORLDWIDE
“I think folks who live and breathe wine possess an abundance of curiosity and the idea of enjoying fine wine from varieties they have never heard of, let alone varieties native to American soil and not European, pique their interests even more,” says Eisterhold. “If the interest our project is receiving from folks in the industry domestically and internationally continues as enthusiastically as the interest we are generating from consumers, then perhaps I’ll be proven correct that these indigenous grapes have a future well beyond our 14 acres”
Last year, TerraVox’s Eisterhold celebrated the 25th anniversary of his planting the first vines on the TerraVox estate – the first 15 years focused on acquiring and cultivating the vines. At the time, the project was nothing more than Eisterhold seeking to resurrect the large number of indigenous American grapes that had been discovered and cataloged more than 100 years ago by T.V Munson and other pioneering American grape horticulturists. Many of these American grapes made their way into individual and commercial vineyards before Prohibition led to their near disappearance. The work being done at TerraVox seeks to resurrect these grapes and determine their suitability for winemaking. To date, TerraVox has and continues to produce dozens of wines based on these rare vines.
IMPLICATIONS FOR ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE, PEST MANAGEMENT, AND DRINKERS’ DESIRE FOR ALTERNATIVE WINE TYPES
“What excites us and many others is the potential our grape project has for addressing the implications of climate change, pest management, vigor and productivity, and the ever-increasing interest consumers are showing in alternative wine types,” notes Eisterhold. “We know now from our sales, the awards our wines have earned, the continued support from consumers, and interest from domestic and international growers that are also addressing the same long-term issues, that there is great potential in expanding wine beyond European varieties and French-American hybrids and focusing on the grapes native to American soil to address these issues.”
More information on TerraVox Vineyards can be found at http://www.terravox.wine.
